The Third International Ichnofabric Workshop, held August 15-21, 1995 on the sunny island of Bornholm, Denmark, was a big success for all involved. 32 participants from 16 different countries demonstrated that the workshop was indeed an international affair and that ichnology as a science has matured to such a diverse level of recognition. The hosts of the workshop, Richard Bromley and Ulla Asgaard (pictured here), organized a delightful schedule and setting for the participants that kept people happily involved in the exchange of ichnological information. Logistical support was provided in an exemplary way by Jan Kresten Nielsen (dependent on his laptop for survival), who helped to coordinate items as important as transferring participants and dealing with so many different people from different cultures with different languages. Kudos!
The workshop was hosted within a mill that had been converted into a bed-and-breakfast inn for visitors to Bornholm (look behind the participants in this picture). However, the large number of participants (the largest yet for an Ichnofabric Workshop) required the housing of some participants in the University of Copenhagen's Geology Field Station, which was only two kilometers away from the mill.
The workshop format, loosely arranged to avoid excessive formality, consisted of three days of presentations by participants (including discussion) followed by four days of field work. The presenters and their topics were:
Bertling, Markus - Balanoglossites and Trypanites types (Magdefrau 1932) rediscovered - taphonomy and taxonomic implications.
Bin, Hu - Explanations of Triassic and Cretaceous trace fossils and ichnofabric of some parts of China.
Bin, Hu - Ichnocoenosis and ichnofabric studies of the Mesozoic nonmarine deposits of China.
Bockelie, J. Fredrik - FMS and FMI - a new tool for dynamic ichnofabric description in exploration for oil and gas.
Bromley, Richard G. - Demonstration of ichnobeautiful rocks.
Christainsen, J. C., and Curran, H. Allen - Unwinding the spiral enigma: Gyrolithes ichnofabrics.
Curran, H. Allen - A Conichnus conicus ichnofabric in Bahamian carbonates: occurrences and significance.
de Gilbert, Jordi M. - Trace fossils and ichnofabrics from the northwestern Mediterranean Pliocene.
Droser, Mary - Temporal and environmental trends and patterns in ichnofabrics: paleobiological and paleoecological significance.
Ekdale, A. A. - Colorful ichnofabrics in the Ordovician "Orthoceras Limestones" of southern Sweden.
Ekdale, A. A. - Ichnofabrics in so-called "impact tsunami" deposits at the K-T boundary in northeastern Mexico.
Gaillard, Christian - Ichnofabric of lithographic limestones.
Gerard, Jean - Integration of trace fossil analysis in geological models for oil fields.
Gluszek, Arkadiusz - Ichnofabrics in the Upper Carboniferous continental coal-bearing deposits of Upper Silesia, south Poland.
Goldring, Roland - Cylindrichnus ichnofabrics and their sedimentological significance.
Gong, Yi-ming - Marine Devonian ichnofabrics of China and their relations to sedimentary sequences and T-R cycles.
Jeong, Kyungwan, and Ekdale, A. A. - Fractal analysis of trace fossils and ichnofabrics.
Jianping, Zhang - Characteristics of Middle Cambrian trace fossils and ichnofabric and their application in sequence stratigraphy from Ordos Basin, northwest China.
Knaust, Dirk - Ichnofabrics in the Lower Muschelkalk (Germanic Middle Triassic) of Thuringia, Germany.
Kotake, Nobuhiro - Ichnofabric in the late Tertiary volcaniclastic deep-sea sediments of Japan.
Krawinkel, Hannelore - Ichnofabrics at discontinuity surfaces - examples from the Neogene of Central America.
Lindqvist, Jon - Pyrite-cemented Rhizocorallium and chimneys in a shoreface sandstone - iron-rich ground-water flow across a transgressive erosion surface, Paleocene, New Zealand.
Martin, Anthony J. - Aquifer modification by bioturbation.
Mason, Tom - Ichnofabrics used to interpret depositional environments in the Cenozoic of Namaqualand, South Africa.
Nara, Masakazu - Rosselia socialis - a key to high-resolution depositional history.
Netto, Renata G. - Permian ichnofabrics from a progradational sequence in a marginal marine context.
Nielsen, Jan K. - Ichnofabrics in giant foresets, Pleistocene, Rhodes, Greece.
Olivero, Davide - Zoophycos ichnofabric in the Jurassic of southeastern France.
Pollard, John E. - Mesicate burrow ichnofabrics in fluvial sediments.
Pollard, John E., and Siggerud, E. - Ichnofabrics in continental to offshore marine clastics in an Eocene fan delta, northeastern Spain.
Sutcliffe, Owen - Trace fossils of the Hunsruckschiefer, Devonian, Germany.
Uchman, Alfred - Examples of ichnofabrics from the Cretaceous-Paleogene flysch deposits of the Carpathians, Poland.
Wetzel, Andreas - Chondrites ichnofabrics produced on the oxic side of life.
Presentations were both oral and posters, which provided for mostly magnificent mixed-media messages. Discussion of ichnological subjects continued long after presentations were completed and were the main topic of conversation during delicious (and bountiful) meals washed down with Danish beers as well as wines bought on the duty-free shop during the boat ride to the island. The cooks (shown here, Bodil on the left and Marianne on the right) were probably the most popular members of the support staff (actually, they were the support staff) for their preparation of such excellent meals.
Despite the fierce competition posed by the presentation phase, the field trip was the highlight of the workshop for many people. The first two days were spent exploring the amazingly diverse geology and ichnology of Bornholm. Lower Cambrian deposits included Planolites, Diplocraterion, Skolithos, Monocraterion, Palaeophycus, Rhizocorallium, and Teichichnus as representative ichnogenera. Outcrops of Lower Ordovician limestones revealed few ichnologic secrets, although Richard Bromley had samples in the mill from these rocks. The Mesozoic section on the island had representative rocks from the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous containing various degrees of ichnological diversity and abundance. Some of the more ichnologically spectacular sites for me were the two exposures of the Lower Cretaceous Robbedale Formation, which contained beautiful and copious examples of Ophiomorpha nodosa, pictured here.
Geological site visits were punctuated with cultural stops, lending to a more complete sense of the natural history of Bornholm. These stops included viewing of round churches, rune stones, petroglyphs, the largest castle in Scandanavia, and a fish smokery (the latter was my favorite because it exemplified my most favorite Swedish word - "smorgasbord," or "smoerrebroed" in Danish).
Regrettably, I had to leave the field trip immediately following the two days on Bornholm, but another two days of field work were enjoyed by the other participants in southern Sweden (Scania) and Denmark (Sjaelland). The stop on the island of Sjaelland was particularly notable because of the well-known Stevns Klint site, which has the K-T boundary exposed for all to see and debate about whenever visiting.
Overall I would term the workshop as a wonderful event and look forward to the upcoming one in 1997. Although the exact locality had not been decided at the time of my departure, the next workshop will be either in England (hosted by John Pollard) or the Bahamas (hosted by Allen Curran). Many thanks to Richard Bromley, Ulla Asgaard, and others for hosting such an excellent workshop!